Government spending on external consultants has rocketed again this year, it has emerged, with the now-defunct Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) shelling out £15.6m on external services during 2005-06.
The sum marks a dramatic 47% surge on the £10.6m outlay for similar work during the previous year.
The figures emerged after the Law Society submitted a formal request for the information in December to aid comparisons between Whitehall’s spending on outside consultants and its current legal aid budget.
The DCA, which was replaced last month by the Government’s controversial new Ministry of Justice (MoJ), used consultants to cover a wide range of work including human resources, recruitment, financial services and performance studies.
The news comes after an independent report last year revealed the UK’s legal ministry increased its outlay on consultants from £3.4m six years ago to £10.6m during 2004-05, including paying £2.24m to accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.
A spokesperson for the MoJ commented: “We are now a much bigger department than ever before and all the services we provide are important.”
The spokesperson added that the latest figures were inflated by the removal of guidelines that previously meant only spending of more then £50,000 on consultants had to be officially recorded.
